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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Candidate for Grand Marshall of the Lunatic Parade, December 7, 2007
This review is from: Cellar of Horror: The Story of Gary Heidnik (Mass Market Paperback)
Ken Englade's CELLAR OF HORROR details the bundle of insanity that was Gary Heidnik. Heidnik, who had been diagnosed for years as schizophrenic, held six women captive in his basement over a four month period spanning 1987/1988. His goal was ostensibly to have each of these women bear his children - he wanted ten - creating a family who would continue living in his basement. Heidnik sexually assaulted and tortured these women in a variety of repulsive ways, and two of them eventually died at his hands.
An interesting and unusual facet of Heidnik's psyche is that he was a white man with an IQ measured at 130 who preferred the company of mentally and physically disabled black women, though of the captives only one was disabled.
CELLAR OF HORROR was first published in 1989. As Heidnik was convicted in July 1988, I was afraid the book was going to be a rush-to-print slop job.
It most definitely is not. Englade is a professional. He doesn't tell the reader what to think; he does not at all inject his own personality into the account; and he doesn't pad his book with mindless repetition and filler. What he does is write fairly, reportorially, and intelligently.
A strong point of this book is that Englade has included a reasonable amount of background material on Heidnik, from his childhood on.
I would have actually preferred even more background, but there is still a lot more than is usually found in true crime books printed this close to the trial. I also think this would have been a better book if there had been an attempt to provide background information about the victims. And the picture section, while it contains 5 good pictures of Heidnik, has none of any of the women Heidnik abducted and held captive. I realize that this may have been a sensitive issue, but the victims are all named in the book and the four that lived testified at the trial, so it seems to me that their pictures, and/or more information personalizing them, could have been printed. This would have improved the book. In short I would have liked the book longer and with more depth.
Still, I still found CELLAR OF HORROR to be a fast paced and very well written account of a truly appalling crime comitted by yet another truly appalling lunatic. And I recommend it highly.
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22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Readable True Crime, October 27, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Cellar of Horror: The Story of Gary Heidnik (Mass Market Paperback)
Ken Englade is the author of many true crime books. This one rates four stars because it is well written, using the English language well. It is easy to read. Initially, the book moves from Heidnick's past, then back to the crime for which he was arrested and sentenced. He held women in a cellar in terrible conditions and demanded sex so that he could have children. Half of the book focuses on the crime and the other half on the trial. The reason the book does not get five stars is that it lacks investigation of Heidnick's childhood and family. It does briefly go into his hopitalizations for mental illness. So many opportunities for Heidnick to get the help that could have prevented this crime. Also, Heidnik accrued quit a bit of money through some sort of investment. Going into that also would have been interesting. Finally, I did not give this book five stars because there were very few pictures. Pictures of childhood, details of the scene of the crime, pictures of the victims along with a postlogue of the current fate of the victims would have added immensely to the book.
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23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
In the Basement, February 2, 2005
This review is from: Cellar of Horror: The Story of Gary Heidnik (Mass Market Paperback)
The story of Gary Heidnik is one of the more disturbing in the whole genre of true crime. Ken Englade does a commendable job of outlining Heidnik's spiral out of control in "Cellar of Horror".
The facts show Heidnick imprisoned as many as five women at varying times to serve as a "baby making machines" for him. All of the women were African American with a background of mental deficiency or prostitution. The women were starved, tortured, raped, and beaten at varying times during their captivity. Two women died in captivity. One woman's remains were cooked, causing a tremendous odor in the neighborhood, and fed to dogs mixed in with dogfood. One of the more interesting aspects of the capitivity shows the social dynamics that caused one of the prisoners to gain favor over the others and align herself with her captor.
The trial shows a judge wiping her behind with the consititution to railroad the jury into a first degree murder verdict. Judge Abraham clearly wanted as little evidence of insanity presented as possible. She allowed the prosecution to present evidence which the defense was forbidden to present. This was among her many offenses. A more clear case of not guilty by reason of insanity may not be possible. Heidnik was given disability pay by the military and diagnosed with schizophrenia. In addition, he was in and out of mental health institutes over twenty times between his years in the military and his arrest for murder.
Ken Englade tells a riveting story in "Cellar of Horror". It is a relatively short read, but one that I had trouble putting down as I read it in two days. Because of its thoughtfulness, it is essential true crime.
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